5 comments about Rand McNally World Wall Map: Laminated : M Series (M Series Map of the World).

1. My main complaint is that the lamination is very thin! When secured to the wall with push-pins, it tears-off very quickly! Just thought that people who're interested in this should know about it!



2. I gave this product 4 stars because Russia is still one big area not broken up into its sections. Guessing it was made before 1990? Expo dry erase markers come off very easily. Map is large and I it's just what I expected!



3. I needed a map for a school project. I loved the fact it was already lamenated!



4. I particularly like this this over sized map of the world as it stands out in itself. The finish allows one to point to different places unhesitatingly knowing they will not mar the finish. Because the countries are in tones of varying colors and labeled with eye friendly sizes, it is easier to spend more time checking out places you wish to locate. You also get a better sense of distances versus looking on a globe. This map is not only a great reference and teaching tool, it lends itself to be on the wall of your study or office.



5. I bought these for my son's 9th b-day, I hung it on his wall with blue painters tape, We didn't need anything fancy just something that if he had a question he could go look it up himself. It's not the worlds sturdiest map, but if you are looking for something simple it's perfect.

3 comments about New Concise World Atlas.

1. I bought this atlas because I wanted one as up-to-date as possible (in light of political boundaries and such), and wanted something to accompany a globe I have. There is a lot of useful information at the front of the atlas, so it's not just a book of maps. I use it for reference while taking classes for my masters (logistics and transportation) degree, and my stepson uses it for some of his high-school classes, as well. I think it's an atlas worth sharing with the family to learn geography.



2. This book is more than great. The color of it is very vibrant and the book is a great size. My dad was very pleased to have opened it on Christmas. It was well worth the money for sure!



3. I needed a really good World Atlas and I found it with this one. I use it all the time. It has a lot of really good information at the front of the atlas that has been most helpful when I am doing research. Use this atlas along with Google Earth and you don't need anything else.

5 comments about National Geographic Atlas of the World, Eighth Edition.

1. I have both the 7th and 8th editions of this book, as well as recent editions of most of the other major world atlases.
   
   In my opinion, this latest (8th) edition blows away the competition (_and_ the National Geographic's own 7th edition).
   
   Having bought and owned world atlases for almost 50 years, I strongly recommend this atlas for home, school, or library use. I find this latest edition exceedingly accurate, especially in the areas of the Middle East (*despite* the protestations from certain _very_ organized political factions <ahem>).
   
   Magnificent satellite photos, along with revised and improved political and geo-physical maps, set this one apart from the rest. Much of the "supplemental" map sections of the previous edition are expanded.
   
   Regarding the reviewer who indicated that the 7th edition is "cloth-bound": well, the 7th edition (that I own) actually has a *cloth-textured* dark blue *paper* overlay on hardboard. The internal hinges are "binders' mull" (cloth) _but_ so are those of the plastic-coated covers of the 8th edition! Both editions should hold up very well. The main difference in the covers is the aesthetics, and the 8th edition is indeed quite pleasing in that department.
   
   I most highly recommend the 8th edition of this atlas, and you certainly won't go wrong if you purchase it from Amazon.
   A great addition to the panoply of atlases, and a huge treat for addictive map lovers!



2. With a limited number of printings and a three-digit price, you expect great things from National Geographic's Altas of the World. And, for the most part, the book delivers. In lieu of a long review, I though I'd just come up with some pros and cons to explain why I gave the book the rating I did.
   
   Pros: amazing quality of pictures/maps, city maps, intresting nation and political information, wealth of information, built-in bookmark.
   
   Cons: not 400 pages like amazon claims (137 pages sans index), index is almost as long as rest of book, will not fit in any bookcase you own, poor binding for such an expensive book, hard to fit back in cover.
   
   The last atlas I owned was a child's atlas from 1987. I bought the National Geographic version because I took it to be the diffinitive atlas. And it is. I'm happy with the 8th edition and I'm sure it will be a usefull reference for years to come. But given how few pages it is and how much money it cost, I'm not sure I would buy the 9th edition.



3. I've had the new atlas for 60 days and find myself looking something up every 2-3 days. It's really been fun looking up remote places like Palmyra Atoll, Kerguelen Island, the Fly River and other obscure places I read about.
   
   And now I've found an interesting use for the password protected online atlas as well. The online Atlas gives you high-resolution access to all the Atlas map plates. You can print, copy or email maps or portions of maps. I expect the online Atlas to come in handy for school projects.
   
   If you've read through the reviews you'll know the Iranians are upset about the "renaming" of the Persian Gulf. OK, since I'm at work, I'll log in to the password protected Atlas website, pull up Plate 75 and take a look. The Persian Gulf is labeled "Persian Gulf" but underneath it in parentheses is the label "Arabian Gulf". Apparently "Arabian Gulf", even in parentheses, is an affront to Iranian pride.
   
   I want to be fair on this so I decided to check out some other atlases at my local bookstore to see how they handle the Gulf label. Most of the atlases use the term Persian Gulf by itself, but several prominent, highly-rated Atlases use the label "The Gulf" with no Persian or Arabian modifier, so there is legitimate debate in the cartographic world about how to refer to this body of water. For nationalistic reasons the Iranians want it only to be called the Persian Gulf, but I suspect the other countries bordering the Gulf would disagree. Most people will continue to call it the Persian Gulf, and the NGS Atlas appropriately uses that name as the primary label.
   
   However, Iran does not own the Persian Gulf, and if a different name is now used by millions of people, then you have to admire the NGS for including both labels and not bowing to pressure from any political group, unlike the Atlases that meekly call it "The Gulf". I sympathize with the Iranian's anger over what they perceive to be psychological warfare by the Arabs, but I would still prefer to know if an alternate name is in use locally, and that is what the NGS atlas provides. Geographic names evolve, and the NGS continues its strong history of providing up-to-date cartography.
   
   The new NGS World Atlas is among the top two or three World Atlases available, and the discounted price from Amazon makes it a relative bargain, especially when you consider you also get an online Atlas that mirrors the printed edition.
   
   I for one feel the maps in the NGS World Atlas are as accurate and beautiful as you will find anywhere and now they're available online as well. This is a great family resource.



4. In December 2004, National Geographic (NG) updated the Persian Gulf plate (Plate 75) to accomodate the controversies surrounding the place-names used in the 8th edition.

   Here is my understanding of the changes made:

   1. The term "Arabian Gulf" in parenthesis has been deleted. Instead, there is a small note that reads: "Historically and commonly known as the Persian Gulf, this body of water is also referred by some as the Arabian Gulf."

   2. Persian names of all Iranian islands are used. (Kish instead of Qeys, Lavan alone instead of adding Sheykh Sha'eyb in parenthesis)

   3. Deletion of "Occupied by Iran (Claimed by U.A.E.)" in reference to the islands Abu Musa, and Greater and Lesser Tunbs.

   These changes already appear on the website (www.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine) and will apply to further printings or editions of the NG Atlas. Also, on the password-protected website for NG Atlas owners, there is a "brief summary of the historical origin of the term Persian Gulf". There is also a note on the place-naming policy of NG. (The online update feature is great - you can download and/or print updated plates and put them in your atlas. This not new for NG Atlases, except that they used to send updates by mail.)

   Overall, I am impressed with NG's response to this situation. I am also very impressed with the quality of the atlas and its contents, except for the outermost/superficial binding paper. I have had the atlas for about 6 months, and with moderate use, the paper around the bottom of the spine has frayed. The binding itself is intact, though.




5. This is a wonderful full-color book on the geography of the world.
   The atlas has the following features:
   - a map relief for all the major mountains
   - green fonts for forestry
   - highlighted waterways
   - the ocean major currents
   - bays highlighted
   - the Isles of the Pacific i.e. Palau, Manihi, Lialtuka, Hiya Oa,
   Santa Cruz, Kosrae
   
   The North and South Pole is highlighted together with the
   East and West Antartica and separate reliefs for the oceans.
   The coloring is spectacular. This book would be perfect for the
   student in your house.

5 comments about Rand Mcnally World Map (Classic Edition World Wall Map).

1. Beautiful map, for over a large sectional couch. very pleased with it. Cost a fortune to frame.



2. map is a great size, but on very thin paper. to laminate it at kinkos is about $40... thus, it still sits rolled up in the package waiting to hang on our wall.



3. the map itself is nice, according to the picture. however, the packaging was not right, because i have received the map all crisped up.



4. This map is great. I love it. Now when I meet people from other country I can visualize where they are on the map. Con: Thin paper. I added reinforcement by tapping the edge with packaging tape. Still a great buy.



5. This map is incredibly large and the picture on it is great for learning more about the continents. The only trouble I'm having is that the paper is thin so I'm trying to find a frame for it, but it's difficult because of the map's size!

5 comments about Oxford Atlas of the World, 14th Edition.

1. I purchased this as an office resource so I could have a better idea of tracking my globetrotting boss! After receiving it, I realize it has much more information than I need but it is certainly informative and interesting to flip through.



2. The new fourteenth edition of the Oxford Atlas of the World is an essential acquisition for all readers who recognize the need for excellent reference materials in a home library. Truly extraordinary, it offers all the expected information of an atlas plus far more in forematter and satellite photographs. Its extremely current maps are varied in scope and highly detailed yet clear and thus easily usable. Ample legends and additional inclusions make this volume another worthy addition to the highly regarded Oxford references.



3. Oxford Atlas of the World, 14th Edition. I had hoped for more towns listed on U S States, otherwise Atlas is very useful for other areas of world.



4. The main virtue of the Oxford Atlas of the World is its clarity. It may not be as detailed as the larger and more expensive competitors (eg National Geographic Atlas of the World) but the maps as plentiful and very readable.



5. We purchased this book as one of the graduation gifts for our daughter. She just got her Masters Degree and will probably be teaching Geography. She was extremely happy with the book. The quality of the book, along with the price, was outstanding and we are very happy with our purchase. We will certainly return to Amazon.com for any future book purchases. Thank you.

5 comments about Transit Maps of the World.

1. I took one look at the evolution of the BART maps in the two pages devoted to San Francisco's transit system and knew I had to purchase this soft-cover coffee-table book. A writer with an obvious passion for cartography, Mark Ovenden has put together a most intriguing and idiosyncratic design history book examining the maps that depict the world's transit systems. This is not an in-depth book for urban planners or for anyone interested in the workings of a transit system for that matter. Rather, it looks specifically at how transit system maps have been designed to meet the needs of commuters and travelers alike. For travelers especially, these maps often represent the first impression of the geographic breadth of a city. Instead of organizing the maps in alphabetical order of the nearly one hundred cities included, Ovenden cleverly breaks down the maps into six zones. On one end is Zone 1, which covers the eight most elaborate metropolitan systems, all with extensive histories and maps that evolved in style over time.
   
   Particularly fascinating is the evolution of the New York subway from the intricate 1905 map that places Manhattan on its side to the nearly unreadable 1948 version to the austere, straight-angle design by Massimo Vignelli in 1972 to the current version that attempts to minimize the inevitable clutter. The other Zone 1 cities are predictably Berlin, Chicago, London, Madrid, Moscow, Paris and Tokyo. On the other end of the spectrum, Zone 6 itemizes maps for relatively new systems or those still in development. Thumbnail maps are provided for these cases. In between the two zones are cities with subway maps that look surprisingly similar in their diagrammatical design, a likely intentional decision based on usability ease. Consequently, Ovenden gives good reason for not making topographical accuracy a top priority. Maps become unwieldy and inevitably more difficult to read in a hurry. He supports this reasoning by lucidly sharing key aspects of urban transportation history that have culminated into a general preference for the angular, Beck-style diagrams. Map enthusiasts will find this all quite enthralling.



2. This book is fun for armchair travel buffs, map buffs, history lovers and those that have the cities included on their lists to visit. Great background and historic information, especially on the evolution of the system maps. I loved it!



3. This is one of those books that you didn't know that you needed, much less would enjoy. But it excels on both fronts. As the title suggests, Transit Maps of the World: The World's First Collection of Every Urban Train Map on Earth, by Mark Ovenden, is just that; As far I know, every city that has an urban train is represented in this wonderful book. Whether you are a fan of maps or mass transit, a frequent traveller, or want to know the history of some of the world's greatest (and lesser known) subway systems, this book will take you on an amazing tour of the world, by public transportation.
   
   Contents:
   Acknowledgements
   How to use this book
   Foreword
   Introduction: Early railroads
   Introduction: Urban rail transit
   Introduction: Early railroad maps
   Introduction: From maps to diagrams
   Zone 1
   Zone 2
   Zone 3
   Zone 4
   Zone 5
   Zone 6
   Appendix
   
   As you can tell from the contents, the bulk of the book is divided into "zones," much like a real transit system. Zone 1 contains eight transit systems, dedicating about 4 pages for each. Zone 1 contains the systems with the greatest historical documentation and also are among the world's greatest urban transit systems. These include Berlin, Chicago, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris, and Tokyo. These are the "heavyweights" of the public transportation systems. Zone 2 has some of the newer systems, for example Washington DC, Seoul, Boston, and Munich. Zone 2 dedicates two pages per city. As you move through the remaining Zones (or chapters), there is less and less historical documentation and you also learn about the lesser known systems (some with only five stations). The early Zones provide you with various iterations of their route maps, culminating in the current version (as of 2007).
   
   I have to admit that this book was fascinating. You may think that route maps (or diagrams) would be boring, but Ovenden does a remarkable job showing that these are works of art. It also helps that, by using the systems in Zone 1, you come to appreciate the problems associated with representing a large system map on small media (folder maps, in-car diagrams, and the like). With that background, it is easy to admire the current look and feel of route diagrams. This book is not meant to be used as a guide for any system, as they continually add service, but more as a snapshot into the transit systems around 2007. My only issue with the book is that some of the maps are way too small to comprehend, especially in the latter Zones. The same can be said of some of the historical maps, especially when Ovenden points out specific details. Overall, this book is a gem. It's topic is one that you probably take for granted but it is given its full due in this book. It is a fun, educational, and interesting look at transit maps worthy of anyone that has even a passing interest in maps, diagrams, travel, or urban transit.



4. This book fulfills one of my top dreams -- to be more exact, I could not have dreamed of such a book! Reading maps and riding subways have been two of my favorite hobbies, and it is definitely awesome to see more than 200 cities' urban transit maps juxtaposed and compared in one book. Even better, the author gives detailed introduction to the history and includes many interesting anecdotes of those storied urban transit systems such as Berlin, Chicago, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris, and Tokyo. I use this book to remind my boy about the cities and places we ever visited, and teach him how to use a transit map to quickly find a route to any destination. We have been enjoying it so far, and I believe lots of fun will continue to flow out from it.



5. Got this book last night, started reading it, and when I got to the description of NYC 1972 map by Vignelli, giving it a modernistic feel of the times, was pretty excited, because I knew I own a paper map. Went looking for it, and upon reading from the book that users of the map were confused by the fact that the station of "50th St - Bdway" was positioned west of 8th avenue, went to check on my map this fact. Unfortunately, the station was positioned correctly, i.e., east of 8th Ave, and noticed that the map was slightly different from the one illustrated in the book. Then I saw the date of print on my map, 1976, and realized it must have been a revision from the earlier map in response to the users's complaints. Great book.

5 comments about World Rolled Map (M Series World Wall Maps).

1. Simply great map at this price. The reason why I have given 4 star is Map being not laminated needs to be handled properly by children/parents.



2. The map is nice and huge.. packaging was really nice.. arrived in pretty good condition... betters the geographic knowledge knowledge..



3. I really enjoy this map. It is just what I wanted and it arrived within 2 days of ordering. GO AMAZON!!



4. It took me a while to discover that my kids were not going to learn any geography in school. About the time my 10 year old asked me what the capital of London was, I started shopping for maps.
   
   Because the world changes so rapidly now, I decided to order maps large enough for a 6 and 10 year old to look at and comprehend, but cheap enough to be replaced once the borders of various countries are re-done.
   
   The positives - this map is correct, it's large (we tacked them up in the hallway to the kids' rooms) and it's very colorful, which is good for 6 year olds.
   
   The negatives - it's not laminated, now if I was buying this for myself that would be fine, but the paper is also some strange form of paper that attracts and holds small sticky fingerprints. Being maps, little fingers are naturally attracted like magnets.
   
   If you are making the purchase for an adult or a classroom, or if you intend to frame it, then I highly recommend this map. If you are buying for little ones, I'd spend the extra money to get a laminated version.
   
   One last note - if you purchase from Amazon, they are not particularly well packed. They put them in a tube that is too large for the map so it bangs around and the ends get a bit bent up. Also they don't tape the ends of the tube so I had to have a second one sent after my first tube arrived empty and without ends on it.



5. This is a great map and not just because of its price. I was looking for a map that was updated, large, and, I admit it, colorful. And that's exactly what I got.
   
   I actually like the fact that the map is not the type of paper typically used for posters (the map feels more like printer paper) because there isn't a glare effect from light, which is useful because I'd rather not have to shift, twist, and turn just to read it. Also, even though it is not your typical paper for a map, the quality doesn't strike me as being any lower. You can always laminate it as well- we have a similar map that is laminated and (if you don't mind the glare) it looks very, very nice.
   
   I have to reiterate how colorful this map is! A good buy for anyone, especially those who will use it fairly often and beyond "decoration."

5 comments about The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World.

1. This book is an excellent and detailed look into the work of a few men who worked to try to solve the cause of a cholera outbreak in London.
   
   It shows how the principal investigator used logic and reasoning and investigation skills to try to solve the mystery of what was causing the outbreak. It also goes into competing theories and theorists and the ultimate resolution of the cause of it.
   
   The book is on balance an excellent one. I recommend it to anyone interested in medical and public health investigations, or in science, reasoning, and problem solving.



2. It's almost superfluous for me to review Ghost Map, a best-seller with its own webpage and Wikipedia article. So I will be brief. Steven Johnson is clever writer, a young man whose thought provoking story of the London cholera epidemic of 1854 contains a number of profitable ironies and digressions.
   
   The weakness of the book--which no doubt many enthusiasts regard as a strength--is that Johnson is so consumed with communicating Big Ideas that the narrative peters out before the end of the volume, leaving behind a dusting of trendy theories that can make such works successful in the short run and quickly dated thereafter.
   
   For example, Johnson considers one of the lessons of the ghost map story to be the demonstration that there is no moral component to disease. Yet today things "illegal, immoral and fattening" are more-than-ever suspect causes of premature death. Even Johnson's bête noir, the miasmic theory, has made something of a comeback with increased concern about air pollution. Ironically, Johnson's story, which the Chicago Tribune has called "the triumph of reason and evidence over superstition and theory," concludes with an attempt to enshrine its own superstitions and theories.



3. In the summer of 1854, the Soho neighborhood of London was struck by a devastating outbreak of Cholera. Public officials and medical experts, who were stuck in the conventional wisdom that disease was caused by harmful "miasmas," looked in all the wrong places for the cause of the epidemic. But, there was one man who challenged the consensus of scientists and turned the entire understanding of diseases on its head - Dr. John Snow. This is the story of one man's bravery in using his brain, and letting the facts speak for themselves, even when those in power didn't want to hear it.
   
   I must say that this is one of the most interesting books that I have read in a long time. The author does an excellent job of bringing that long-ago era back to life for the reader. I think that he did an excellent job of telling the story of Dr. Snow and the epidemic in an interesting way, avoiding the temptation to write the narrative in a dull, academic manner.
   
   Plus, I was so intrigued by how history repeats itself over and over again. Could it happen again where a "consensus of scientists" can be used to trump meaningful, unbiased inquiry? Oh yeah!
   
   This is a great book, one that I think will interest anyone interested in diseases and history, or indeed anyone who likes a good story. I loved this book, and no not hesitate to give it my highest recommendations!



4. I just finished Steven Johnson's "Ghost Map". Not to be rude, but how does this stuff get published? For Pete's sake, the name of the book is ghost map, and there is not even a copy of the ghost map in the book.
   
   The book itself lacks any kind of literary punch. Ostensibly about John Snow and cholera, in which there is probably an interesting story if told with focus, Johnson rambles pointlessly around campy urban planning doggerel.
   
   I guess Johnson's reputation is so unassailable that editors don't bother to read what they publish. And that is what the book lacks, an editor.
   
   The worst part is Johnson's attack on the foolish orthodoxy of the miasmaists, while he dutifully regurgitates the junior-high platitudes to Darwinist orthodoxy, when doing so adds absolutely nothing to the story, except to confirm his own Party loyalty.



5. Steven Johnson's book, The Ghost Map, tells the story of how a doctor, John Snow, and a local minister, Henry Whitehead, worked together to combat an outbreak of cholera in their London neighborhood. They did so by conducting on the spot investigation which allowed them to demonstrate that the cholera was being transmitted through the water supply at the Broad Street pump. This demonstration was illustrated through the famous "ghost map" that showed the cluster of illness around the pump which, in turn, famously, led to the removal of the pump handle to combat the outbreak.
   
   Mr. Johnson does a fair job of telling this story. The strength of his telling lies in how he reminds us how far our understanding of disease has come in the past couple centuries. In an era where disease is so much better controlled through hygiene and treatment, it is so easy to forget how diseases like cholera, plague and smallpox would periodically devastate populations--diseases that are now essentially unknown in the developed world.
   
   Yet, in the summer of 1854, the best medical authorities still believed that cholera was an effect of "miasma," the inhalation of foul odors carried through the air. Scientific rigor was becoming part of medicine by this time, however, and Dr. Snow had hypothesized some years before this outbreak that cholera was carried in the water supply. What he was lacking was proof, which the outbreak of 1854 gave him the opportunity to try to supply. And supply his proof he did, despite the fact that it would be some time before his conclusions were accepted even in the face of very convincing evidence, like the "ghost map."
   
   Mr. Johnson relates these pieces of the story very well. What he does less well is bring these people vividly to life. Only Dr. Snow really seems to be fully three-dimensional in Johnson's story. Whitehead, Farr, Chadwick and others flit around the edges of this story like so many ghosts and never seem to be full-bodied people. It was also disappointing that, despite the title, we are not provided with a picture or color reproduction of this revolutionary map. Being able to examine the actual map would have been a nice addition to the text.
   
   Still, there is much of value here. Despite some bells and whistles that would have added energy to the prose, the story of disease and science takes center stage in this book. It is a nice reminder of the good science can do and the struggle that scientists often have to undergo to have new ideas break through.

5 comments about The World Atlas of Wine: Completely Revised and Updated, Sixth Edition (World Atlas of Wine).

1. simply outstanding, in every way....very complete and detailed and the best book on wine i have seen, ever



2. THIS BOOK IS SO INFORMATIVE AND HELPFUL FOR NOT ONLY THE NOVICE, BUT THE PERSON WHO WOULD LIKE TO BRUSH UP ON THERE KNOWLEDGE OF WINES. HIGHLY RECOMEDED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



3. This is a must-have book for your home library. What surprised me is the cost, so low for a hardcover, high quality book like this.



4. This seems to be truly a complete Atlas on wine and locations for
   finding anything you might desire in wines.



5. Really better than 6th edition. I hardly encourage anyone interested in wines to buy it

5 comments about Our Dumb World: The Onion's Atlas of the Planet Earth, 73rd Edition.

1. Entertaining and weird. Just like the Onion. This stuff must be as fun to write as it is to read.



2. Mine never came with the "Free Globe Inside" promised on the cover, but I bet it was stolen from my copy which I borrowed from the library. It's a challenge to take on around two hundred countries, maps, flags, and funny little photos and keep you not only amused but educated-- at your own ethnocentricity, ignorance, half-baked notions of everywhere else outside a hundred miles from where you live, and those hazy regions where what passes here for fact actually makes sort of sense. Madagascar's ruled by lemurs; Taiwanese labor under a perpetual sense of second-class diligence; Western Sahara's Africa's success story thanks to its inhabitability; Andorra's a giant retail outlet. Uruguay could be Paraguay, Chile's too skinny, and Delaware stays a state only to warn the Federal government not to make that mistake again.
   
   It's best to peruse this a few pages at a time, then to give it a rest. Like reading "The Onion" itself, the humor's certainly unrelenting, but the snarky, ironic, and half-erudite, half-idiotic tone verges both on brilliance and sarcasm in copious amounts of one-liners, cartographic captions, and haughty, sophomoric text. It's instructive to have your own lack of education and information overload tossed back at you, from places you barely know on real maps, and as ignored footnotes in textbooks. You'll find such reading habits excoriated when you get to San Marino!
   
   My ancestral land, I found, after centuries of British subjugation, "has at last managed to beat the stereotype of the poor, drunken, fighting Irishman to a bloody pulp." (141) Across the Northern border, I can attest to the veracity of this claim: the people there "are envied for their beautiful accent, a lyrical brogue that reminds many listeners of an aggressive, expletive-ridden poem." (140) Meanwhile the "Leading Cause of Death" remains, post-ceasefire, apparently "going to the pub."
   
   Elsewhere, in my home state, "at least it's sunny." I agree with what the experts here say. San Francisco's the "alternative-lifestyle capital" where you find thousands of young men "living openly off trust-fund money wherever you look." My hometown "is home to some of the kindest and most outgoing people in the world until they realize you're not an agent." If you break into showbiz, you face "the biggest acting role" of your life: "pretending like nothing is wrong while everything around you turns to" #$*%. (022)
   
   Mexico's frontier's charted, where "dozens of Americans" can be found "crossing the border in hopes of escaping work." (025) Hungary's "porn name" is "Gary Hung," while a student can be found mapped fantasizing about his hot teacher "giving legitimate algebra lesson for once." (171) It's better in these places than Africa. The map of Senegal shows where "major imports are peanuts and pretzels" may lead to unrest. Neighboring Gambia's migration pattern similarly causes challenges: "More citizens leave the shallow end as they get older." (104) Lesotho's history's pithy: the original inhabitants "are now dead." (064) The Democratic Rep. of the Congo does track the abyss where humor collapses into misery, and even the writers pale at what they find in the "Home to the world's most horrifying ventriloquist act." (069)
   
   This clash of pampered Western sensibilities and Third World pain makes the atlas, in this section, less lighthearted and more Swiftian in its take on human frailty and geopolitical savagery. Niger's "only available form of birth control remains pregnancy." (097) Malaysia finds the spot where a "Muslim environmentalist" can be tracked "chaining wife to tree." (223) Vietnam hosts a "POW who still thinks U.S. lost the war." (219) But, there's a 20-square-mile "Impossible-to-Satirize Zone." Iraq does not have one yet, but you can plot their "Coalition Troops Welcome-Back Center." (123)
   
   India's introduced as a place where "they fix slow Internet connections while standing waist-deep in sewage, reassure anxious customers that everything will be fine with their hard drive between cholera-induced fainting spells, and listen to iPod-related complaints while fending off giant football-sized rodents." The next page shows the place where you may meet a "librarian with dislocated hip filing Kama Sutra under fiction." (109) Out of such contrasts, indeed, humor and satire and insight into where Wests and Easts, Norths and Souths meet but fail to connect enriches this book, which rewards the browser with thought-provoking cleverness as well as insipid puns, sublime comedy, and lots more flag-related quips than you or I could have come up in a thousand all-nighters in a dorm room or campus watering hole.



3. This is at times an extremely funny book. Unfortunately, while its authors can find humour in Balinese nightclub bombings, the Holocaust, Sudanese genocide, Aids in southern Africa etc, it avoids making fun of major US calamities like the 9/11 attacks and high school/college massacres. Lighten up, Americans. If it's funny in Juba, it's also funny in Manhattan.



4. Perhaps a better title for this book would be "Our Tragic World." Very few of the topics discussed here are dumb or funny. For instance, the Balkan section shows Croatia as the country of land mines. "Where all roads lead to serious injury." Bosnia is the country of war crimes. "Everyone is guilty of a genocide or two." Serbia is the country of ethnic cleansing. "Guy with Croat still stuck to sole of his boot." Is this funny? Really? Come on.
   
   My fiancé was born in the Balkans and raised in Croatia. Several of his friends fought in the war on both the Serbian and Bosnian sides. Two of his Bosnian friends from Sarajevo were forced to fight. So reading "everyone is guilty of a genocide or two" is really not funny. Not when someone you know has gone through it.
   
   The worst part is The Onion doesn't get the facts right. Effective satire gets all the facts right and then sarcastically alters how the subject is approached. In "Our Dumb World" some of the cities are located in the wrong place or spelled wrong. At the very least, the info should be accurate.
   
   I do understand The Onion's humor. I own 2 of their books Dispatches from the Tenth Circle and Our Dumb Century and they are hilarious. I recommend buying one of those 2 books, but not this one. They have written about war and poverty before and done a brilliant job of it. A good example is when they wrote about a Barnes & Noble in Cambodia. They managed to denounce the tragic things going on in Cambodia, while at the same time pointing out our ridiculous comforts in America. That was true satire and it was done well.
   
   However there is a fine line between witty satire and insensitivity. This book crosses the line in an unfortunate way every time. Instead, I recommend one of the other 2 Onion books I mentioned.



5. I got this for my boyfriend's birthday gift. He loves the Onion "News" site, and was a Geography major in college (perfect, right?) I don't think there was a moment, until he was finished, that he wasn't carrying the thing around with him. He loved it, and I have to admit, I liked what he read out loud, too. It's great.